MYSTERIOUS ISLAND
Columbia, 1961, Color, 100 mins.- Columbia DVD

Joan Greenwood: "Whatever does a man do, on an island like this for eight years?"

Well, if you're the infamous Captain Nemo, hiding out in your damaged submarine from a world which thinks you dead, you just naturally......make gigantic oysters, crabs, birds and bees. These oversized critters did not spring from the pen of Jules Verne in his sequel to "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea," but filmmakers have never shied away from tinkering with their source material. Nemo, played by Herbert Lom, is the secret benefactor of a group of castaways who show up at his island hideout, deposited there by both a shipwreck and a wild ride in a balloon. The castaways' problems of survival are both aggravated and alleviated by Nemo's outsized experiments, but an even bigger threat is posed by a gang of marauding pirates. And then there's that darn volcano sitting in the middle of the island- you just know that thing's gonna cause trouble.

Needless to say, believability is not this story's strong suit. But as a stew of Saturday afternoon matinee elements, it has its virtues, not the least of which are the special effects by old-time maestro Ray Harryhausen. They won't wow anybody used to the current state of the art, but they retain a certain hand-crafted appeal that is downright charming compared to today's computerized efforts. This picture will be appreciated by the younger set, those with nostalgic memories of weekend matinees, and special effects aficionados. The latter will enjoy the extras on the disc, including a documentary on Harryhausen, who also appears in a "Making of" featurette.

THE MAN IN THE WHITE SUIT
Ealing, 1951, B&W, 85 mins.- Alec Guinness Coll. DVD

Joan Greenwood: "Millions of people all over the world, living lives of drudgery, fighting an endless battle against drabbiness and dirt. You've won that battle for them. You've set them free. The whole world's going to bless you."

Except for the garment industry, that is. For when brilliant scientist Alec Guinness invents an indestructible, unsoilable clothing material, the forces of English Labor and Capital disregard their notoriously poor relations and join hands to wipe out this menace to their livelihood. This naturally doesn't sit well with Guinness, who surreptitiously worked on the fringes of the industry for years before gaining a supporter in Joan Greenwood, the daughter of a mill-owner. After a pricey and pyrotechnic batch of experiments, Guinness winds up clad in a prototype suit of his wonder material, which is so clean that it literally glows- the equivalent of a big bullseye when he's targeted by the vested interests.

Although grounded in postwar England, the film's caustic view of big business and labor unions is just as timely now as it was then. Guinness' character is the classic idealist whose notion of "Progress" clashes with the "Real world," but who refuses to sell out. His principles are matched by those of his ally Greenwood, whose "Spoiled rich girl" appearance belies her intelligence and decency. The story's conflict escalates into a virtual riot in the streets before culminating in a suitably (pun intended) ironic fashion. Another bit of fun from the good old days of Ealing Studios, with "Classic" written all over it.

TO CATCH A THIEF
Paramount, 1955, Color, 106 mins.- Paramount DVD

Grace Kelly: "Palaces are for royalty- we're just common people with a bank account."

An ironic comment indeed, given that this picture led directly to Kelly's becoming part of the royal family of Monaco. In real life, she snared a Prince, but in this airy concoction from director Alfred Hitchcock, she has her sights set on some Hollywood royalty in the form of Cary Grant. An ex-jewel thief known as "The Cat," Grant redeemed himself as a French Resistance fighter during W.W.II, but his comfortable life is threatened when a cat burglar using his M.O. strikes the Riviera. The cops naturally suspect that he's up to his old tricks, and he is forced to try and ferret out the real culprit in order to clear himself. Along the way, he meets Kelly and her amusingly vulgar mother, Jessie Royce Landis. The pair help Grant to catch his thief, while Kelly's after her own thief- Grant.

This is a light-hearted picture in which the thrills are muted, and the plot is simple. But if you don't mind style winning out over content, you'll enjoy the scenery, and the glamorous stars exchanging all of the double entendres that could be gotten past film censors in the mid-fifties. Kelly is a classic "Hitchcock blonde," seemingly an ice cube, but capable of an amazingly quick thawing-out when you least expect it. Grant's response to her is interested but cautious, like his feline namesake, to which he is linked by a number of amusing visual devices. The wrap-up isn't quite the fairy tale that Kelly's real life was, but that'd be hard to top. Extras on the disc include several featurettes and a photo gallery.

      

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